In Restshop #3, the library of the Institute of Rest(s) meets Ujjwal Kanishka Utkarsh’s film practice.

Restshop is a series of collective studies articulated around a library, a practice in which books slide, literally, under our skins; a space to exercise our rests in the arms of words and sentences and poems, a space in which to (dis)articulate thoughts by re-practising forces that already exist. Together. Restshop #3 will be an encounter with/deal with/engage with/intersect with the stillness of moving images.

*Ujjwal Kanishka Utkarsh is a PhD in Practice candidate at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. He has been working towards developing a form that emerges from the observational cinema tradition and continues that through his PhD project. In his current ongoing work, he is trying to see if and how he can look at and reflect upon political activity through this form. In the current political situation, where the space for voices of dissent is rapidly diminishing, truth is either viewed very simplistically and reality as objective or the post-modern perspective renders all truth relative and all reality socially constructed. In this context, this is also an exploration to see if such ideas of observational form could create a space that avoids the pitfalls of both these seemingly untenable theoretical extremes. Ujjwal primarily makes films while frequently dabbling into other forms like photography, sound, and theatre. He also often collaborates with performance artists and dancers. He has been and still does teaching various aspects of filmmaking and video art in several universities across India.